Context and Complexity in Mouse Vocalizations Public

Abstract

Many species utilize acoustic communication for different ethological purposes, yet little is known about which features of these vocalizations convey important social information. These acoustic features may be context-dependent, varying across different social situations and having different communicative effects across dissimilar contexts. Mouse ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) are exhibited across a variety of social contexts and have been shown to provide information about the animals’ future behaviors. Previous studies have claimed that mouse vocalizations have characteristics of birdsong-like syntax, including distinct syllable types and repeated temporal sequencing, and that males modify their syntax according to different social stimuli (e.g. males emit more complex syllables and sequences in response to urine compared to female presence). Here, using a large data set of mouse vocalizations and a novel computational method for characterizing the space of vocal features, we reassess the results from these studies to better understand the complexity of vocal behavior in different social contexts. Our analyses show how our previous understanding of mouse vocal behavior may have been a consequence of the choices for quantifying behavior, rather than a general statement about the potential social content. We define vocal behavior in coarser and finer-grained scales, looking at the effects on syntax and temporal structure. Overall, this study provides insight into the complexities of mouse vocalizations in different social contexts. By understanding the different effects of how we describe and measure vocal structures, we can further advance how to analyze vocal repertoires across multiple scales.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………….1

Results……………………………………………………………………………………………..6

Figure 1a - Spectrogram of male mouse USVs upon exposure to female mouse urine…..6

Figure 1b - Spectrogram of male mouse USVs upon exposure to female presence……...6

Figure 2 - Two Dimensional Fine-Grained Vocal Behavioral Space…………………....…..7

Figure 3 - Two Dimensional Manually Labeled Coarse-Grained Vocal Behavioral Space…8

Figure 4a - Probability Density of Vocalization Map Separated by Social Context………..9

Figure 4b - Regions of Significant Difference in Vocal Space Between Contexts………….9

Figure 5 - Jensen-Shannon Divergence Calculations Between Individuals and Context...10

Figure 6 - PDF of Entropy of Vocal Repertoire Between Contexts………………….……12

Figure 7a - Paired Plot of Individual Entropy Values Between Contexts………………...13

Figure 7b - Paired plot of Individual Entropy Values Between Contexts Per Region…….13

Figure 8 - One Step Transition Probability Matrices, Separated By Context…………….15

Figure 9 - Transition Probabilities Plotted on Fine-Grained Vocalization Maps.………...15

Figure 10 - Transition Probabilities Plotted on Coarse-Grained Vocalization Maps….….16

Figure 11 - Flux Matrices Between Contexts…………………………………………….17

Figure 12 - Absolute Eigenvalue Spectrum for Individuals in Both Contexts….………...18

Figure 13 - 2nd and 3rd Leading Eigenvalues for Individuals in Both Contexts………….19

Discussion.……………………………………………………………………………………….20

Comparison With Other studies…………………………………………………………21

Why Composition of Vocalizations Differ Between Contexts, But Not Complexities……23

How Complexity Allows Us to Better Understand Acoustic Communication…………....23

Advantages and Disadvantages to Our Methods………….………….………………….24

Future Steps.…………………………………………………………….……………….25

Methods.…………………………………………………………………………………………26

Subjects…………………………………………………………………………………..26

Urine Collection………………………………………………………………………….26

Determining Estrus State………………………………………………………………...26

Recording Vocalizations………………………………………………………………….27

Automatic Detection of Vocalizations……………………………………………………27

Generation of Fine-Grained Vocalization Map…………………………………………..27

Manual Labeling of Syllables and Generation of Coarse-Grained Vocalization Map…....28

Analysis of Vocal Composition Between Contexts……………………………………….29

Between and Within Context Findings…………………………….…………………….30

Analysis of Vocal Complexity…………………………………………………………….31

Repertoire Complexity…………………………………………………………...31

Temporal Complexity…………………………………………………………….32

Measuring Changes in Transitions Upon Removal of Probability Densities……………..34

References………………………………………………………………………………………..35

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Quantitative Science
Degree	B.S.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Biology, Neuroscience Biology, General Biology, Biostatistics
Mot-clé	Mouse acoustic communication Mouse vocalizations Mice vocal behavior Complexity of Mice Vocal Behavior Mice USVs Complexity of Mice USVs Mouse communication Mouse social communication
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Berman, Gordon, Emory University
Committee Members	Liu, Robert, Emory University Prinz, Astrid, Emory University Arbilly, Michal , Emory University

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